For Better or Worse
by bionic4ever
Summary: CLYG5: Steve & Jaime have reconciled after the Sam incident and have just married. One by one, everyone involved with the bionics project is disappearing, and it looks like Steve might have to work with Sam to save them!
1. Chapter 1

**For Better or Worse**

Chapter One

"Think Oscar'll be mad that we got married without telling him first?" Jaime asked.

"Nah," Steve said, tightening his arm around her waist. "He'll be so happy when he hears the news, it'll be all he'll focus on."

Jaime laughed happily. "Callahan's gonna be so excited, she'll want to kiss you. Can't let her do that, though. No one kisses my husband but me." She pivoted around to stand in front of him. "I could use one right now, just to tide me over."They kissed with all the passion of newlyweds, and a little bit more: they had waited so long for this, and been through so much together.

"C'mon, let's go tell 'em," Jaime said with a contented smile.

Steve pushed on the office door, holding it open so she could go in first. He almost ran into her when she stopped cold only a few steps inside. "Steve - something's really wrong here." It was late morning, and Peggy Callahan - always there promptly at 8 - wasn't at her desk.

"She's probably in a meeting," Steve guessed.

"No...look." Jaime walked around to the other side of the desk, truly frightened now. The bottom two drawers on either side of the chair - Callahan's file drawers - had been forced open, rifled through and discarded on the floor.

"I've got a real bad feeling..." Jaime whispered.

"So do I. You wait here; I'll check Oscar's office."

"Uh-uh. You're not going in there alone - could be a trap."

"Jaime -"

"And you're not leaving me out here alone, either."

Steve couldn't argue with that logic, but he damn sure was going in first. He took one fast look around and protectively pulled Jaime closer, his arm tight around her waist.

"Oh no..." Jaime said, halfway between tears and panic. Papers and file folders were strewn everywhere, Oscar's desk chair was overturned and there was no sign of Oscar.

Steve saw the people on the sofa first and tried to block Jaime's view. "Sweetheart, go out to Callahan's desk and call Security. Now."

"I'll call from Oscar's phone. It's right -" Jaime was gripped by terror that rendered her speechless. Callahan was lying, unconscious, on the office sofa, with blood on her head. Leaning over her prone body was Sam Goldman.

"Argus!" Steve grabbed Sam by the collar of his shirt and lifted him into the air. He slammed him against the wall and held him there. "What'd you do to her? And where's Oscar?"

"Steve! Put him down!" Jaime pleaded.

"My name isn't Argus; it's Goldman." Sam choked out. "_Doctor_ Goldman, and you're wasting time."

Steve lowered him to the ground. "You don't deserve that last name," he growled.

"Ambulance is on it's way, and I've already called Security," Sam told them. "Steve, you need to put your personal animosity aside and help me deal with this."

Steve had plenty of animosity. This was the man who had almost caused him to lose Jaime forever. The wedge he'd driven between them was almost too much to get over, but they'd done it and now they were married. Sam was the very last person on the earth that Steve wanted to see.

"What the hell happened here?" Steve demanded. "What were you looking for?"

"I didn't do this," Sam said quietly.

"Forgive me if I have a certain lack of trust in you," Steve grumbled.

"Steve!" Jaime admonished him with a raised eyebrow and a stern look. She moved to Callahan's side. "Peggy?" There was no answer.

"She'll be ok - just a nasty bump on her head," Sam told Jaime as he slipped an arm around her waist.

This was more than Steve could take. "Get your damn hands off my wife," he snarled, "before you need an ambulance, too."

"Your - wife?"

"Yep."

The two men stood face to face, as though daring each other to strike the first blow. Jaime stepped between them, angrier than both of them put together. "**_Oscar. Is. Missing.!_** Callahan's hurt, God knows what is going on, and you two wanna compare testosterone levels? If this is for my benefit, don't bother. If it's for your own benefit, **grow up**!

The medics arrived and took Callahan away, leaving the angry trio standing amidst the rubble of the ruined office. "If you're done playing George of the Jungle," Sam said flatly, "I think I know what they were looking for."

"And yet you had nothing to do with this?" Steve asked.

"Steve - please - knock it off," Jaime told him sharply. "What, Sam?"

"I think you'd better tell us that," said a voice from the doorway.

Steve groaned. "Great. Who called Dudley Do-Rite and his Keystone cops?" Hanson and Kirk from the NSB looked over the mess and Kirk turned to Steve. "Security called us. What happened here?"

Steve shrugged. "Ask the answer man over there."

"Mister Goldman?"

"I came in and the office was trashed. Secretary was unconscious on the couch, although I'm guessing from the trail of blood droplets that she managed to get herself there after she was hit."

"So you're a detective now, too," Steve noted, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Jaime stood on the tips of her toes to whisper in his ear. "Steve, I love you. Please shut up."  
"Anyhow," Sam continued, "the only files that I know for certain are missing are Jaime's, Steve's, and the one on Rudy Wells."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"I'd still like to know how he could tell so easily which files were missing," Steve told Jaime on the way to Rudy's lab. "The whole thing seems pretty suspicious to me."

Jaime glared at him before answering. She was still angry and a little bewildered about her new husband's behavior in Oscar's office. "You heard him. He looked for my file, and when it wasn't there he looked for yours, and then Rudy's."

"Jaime, why are you so quick to defend him?"

"Because he was trying to help find Oscar while you were busy playing Rock-m-Sock-m-Robots."

"Then it wasn't because you liked the way he kissed you?"

"That's way out of line, Austin, and you know it!"

Steve sighed. "I'm sorry, Sweetheart, but when I saw him put his hands on you today, it made me sick to my stomach."

"He didn't know we got married."

"Doesn't matter. He knew we were together, and it wasn't just a friendly arm around your shoulder, either."

"Steve, I love _you_, not Sam. I married you." She looked at him anxiously. "Are you regretting that already?"

"Not a chance. And I am sorry. You know I don't normally act olike that. He just pushes every single one of my buttons..."

"Let's not fight," Jaime suggested. "Please? Oscar needs our help, and for all we know, so does Rudy."

Steve's voice was grim. "He needs our help even more than you know." Jaime looked at him quizzically. "He's in as much danger from the NSB as he is from whoever's got him. Maybe more."  
"I don't understand -"

"Jaime, if someone at Oscar's security level is abducted, the NSB doesn't plan a rescue. They move in to neutralize the threat."

"Neutralize?"

"When they pinpoint a location, they bomb the hell out of it," Steve told her softly.

"But that wouldn't just get the kidnappers! Oscar would be killed."

"Exactly."

"Why...?"

"In their eyes, it's a kinder death than his enemies have planned for him."

"How do we stop them?"

"Find Oscar before they do. In essence, working against our own government. Which is why I'm dropping you off at home."

"Not a chance."

"Sweetheart, this could get really ugly."

"I'm going."

"Jaime -"

"For better or worse, remember?"

"I don't think those vows were written with kidnappings in mind."

"We're partners," Jaime pointed out. "Besides, there's one little thing you've overlooked."

"What's that?"

"If Rudy is gone, we're probably next. Our files are missing, too."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Rudy's main office and lab were never very noisy, but when the Austins walked in, it seemed deathly quiet. A door opened and closed to shatter the silence, and Sam joined them in the outer office.

"I should've known you -" Upon receiving an icy glare from his wife, Steve decided to shut his mouth, for now.

"I can save you the trouble of going in there," Sam told them. "Place is ransacked, worse than my uncle's office. The ambulance just left with the nurse. Head wound, just like Peggy's: not too serious, but enough to render her unconscious."

"Rudy...?" Jaime asked.

"Gone."

"And the files?" Steve had decided to cooperate, once again, for now.

"Well, I'm not as familiar with his filing system, but one file is noticably absent." He turned to Jaime. "Yours."

Jaime's face paled. "Ok. I'm next, then," she said, trying not to let the two men see that she was petrified.

Steve wrapped both of his arms protectively around his wife. "I don't know what they're after," he told her. "Could be bionics, could be someother project entirely. But you are not gonna be another victim." He turned to Sam. "We'll take her to the War Room at the Pentagon. Virtually impenetrable. She -"

"No." Jaime's voice was firm, in spite of her fear. "I won't leave Rudy and Oscar twisting in the wind. Who knows what'll happen to them if we thwart the rest of the plan?"

Sam shook his head. "Have to say I'm with your husband on this one. I can't stand to think about what they'd do if they got their hands on you."

"Neither can I," Steve told her.

"Careful, guys," Jaime said with a slight smile. "That's twice you've agreed in less than a minute. Might start a trend."

Both men allowed themselves a small chuckle. Jaime smiled at them and then turned serious. "Before you both go all gung-ho about hiding me, and blowing probably our only chance to find Oscar and Rudy, I have an idea."

"Uh-oh," Steve interrupted.

"Hush. Listen, please? Sam, when you were looking through Rudy's office just now, did you see a file labeled either 'Prototype' or 'GPS'?"

"I know I saw 'GPS'."

"Perfect. I need you to get it, please."

Sam looked at Steve, who gave him a slightly bemused grin. "I've learned the hard way, Sam, that when she gets like this, it's best to just nod, smile and go along for the ride."

Jaime made a face at him. "Steve, we're gonna break into the 'secret' hidden lock box under Rudy's desk." Sam retrieved the file while Steve and Jaime ripped up floorboards (rather than hunt for the remote and the keys) and then Jaime grabbed the smallest of a half dozen metal boxes and carefully pushed a hole in the top to open the box.

"What's that?" Steve asked her.

"It's the prototype for a GPS tracking device Rudy was gonna put in my ear for special assignments."

"How come I don't get one?"

"Where's he gonna put it - in your eyeball?"

"Good point." Steve looked at Sam and shrugged. "Sweetheart," he said to Jaime, "I see where you're going with this, and it's a good idea, except for one minor detail. Rudy is one of the people missing. Having Michael implant it is out of the question, so how -"

"Sam's a doctor."

"Jaime - he's a psychiatrist."

"He still has a medical background. Right, Sam?"

"Well, yes, but I know zilch about bionics."

Jaime was on a roll. "That's where Steve comes in. The two of you, working together, combining what you know, can get this done. When they come for me - and we know they will - you'll be able to find all three of us. Bang - happily ever after."

Steve looked grim. "Unless the NSB gets there first."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

When Jaime began to wake up from the light anesthesia Sam had given her before implanting the GPS, she was not where she thought she'd be. The two faces looking down at her were not Steve and Sam's. Instead, she saw Oscar and Rudy. _I'm hallucinating_, she told herself. _It's the anesthetic._

She was wrong; it was real. Jaime found she was lying on a blanket on a cold cement floor, her two missing collegues beside her in a cell that had probably at one time been built for a single prisoner. Rudy was checking her pulse.

"She's coming around," he told Oscar.

Oscar leaned over the blanket and tried to fake a smile. "Welcome back, Babe."

_Dammit,_ Jaime thought, as her brain drifted in and out of the fog,_ were they finished implanting the device? Does it even work? And what happened to Steve and Sam?_ She knew that Steve would fight with everything he had before he'd have let them take her, so chances were he was hurt - or worse.

"Where...are...we?" she asked weakly.

Oscar answered while Rudy continued to check her over. "Remember New Destiny? You and Steve retrieved those modules for me."

"Yeah...and?"

"Some of their security tapes survived the explosions, and they wanted to get their hands on whatever gave the two of you the ability to penetrate their security systems."

"Great." Jaime tried to focus her bionic ear on the sounds surrounding them, but she was still so dizzy. "Where are the guards?"

"End of the hall, and it's a long hallway," Rudy told her. "They can't hear us if we talk softly, and we'll hear their boots if they're headed our way."

"The NSB was called; they're looking for us."

Oscar knew what that meant; so did Rudy. "I figured as much," Oscar said.

"But so are Steve and Sam." Jaime added.

"Together?" Rudy found that hard to believe.

"Yup. I set 'em straight. She closed her eyes as the world began spinning again. "God, I'm dizzy."

Rudy patted her hand. "You rest for now, Honey." As he pulled his hand away, he looked down at her ring finger. _A wedding ring? _"Oscar...," he whispered.

Oscar saw what Rudy saw and smiled in spite of their peril. "Well, I'll be damned..."

-----------

At the same time, Steve and Sam were attempting recoveries of their own. Jaime had been right: Steve would've fought to the death to protect her, but he and Sam had both been attacked from behind, at virtually the same instant, and neither one saw it coming. When Steve woke up, he was lying on the floor with the worst headache he'd ever had. Sam, still unconscious, was draped across the table where they had been working on Jaime. Jaime! Steve looked around frantically but already knew it was useless. His wife was gone. He shook Sam lightly, trying to rouse him.

"Sam - wake up."

"Huh? What the...oh no."

"They took Jaime." Steve told him. "The GPS - will it work?"

"We weren't done yet, but the device is on, so maybe we'll get lucky."

-------------

"Well, look who finally decided to join the party," the guard remarked. Without thinking about it, Rudy and Oscar moved in front of Jaime, shielding her somewhat from the gaze of their captors.

"The two of us can get you whatever it is you need," Oscar told the guard. "Why don't you let her go? One less person to have to watch, after all."

The guard laughed. "But, we do need her. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you what you're going to be doing for us; let you think about it for tonight. You, Doctor, are going to take your creation here apart for our cameras, piece by piece."

"Like hell I will!"

"Oh, you will. If you don't, you'll have to stand by while we do it, and I can guarantee you there'll be a lot more mess - and pain - involved if we have to do your job. She'll do a lot less suffering if you take care of it for us. You can think about it for tonight. I'll be back for the two of you at sunrise." The guard left, turning off the lights in the corridor and the cell as he went.

"I can't do it," Rudy said.

Jaime was trembling violently. "He didn't say anything about putting me back together, did he?" The men couldn't answer her. "Or anesthesia either..."

Oscar muttered a long string of expletives under his breath. "I must be here so I can't send the OSI in for a rescue."

"NSB's taking care of that, remember?" Rudy reminded him.

"Rescue - " Jaime thought out loud. "Rudy, when they grabbed me, Steve and Sam were in the middle of putting your GPS implant in my ear. Is there any way for you to tell if it's working?"

Rudy shook his head. "Well, at least there's some hope," Jaime added. She gathered her courage and looked directly into Rudy's eyes. "Rudy, if they don't find us, and this happens tomorrow, you'd probably be doing me one last favor if..." Jaime couldn't go on, collapsing into silent tears as both men moved to try and comfort her.

They couldn't see the sun coming up from inside their cell, but the three scared but resigned prisoners had been unable to sleep and were all awake when the boots came noisily down the hall the next morning. Rudy looked at Jaime, panic and regret filling his heart. Jaime touched his face. "It's a favor for me. Remember that, ok?" She and Rudy were quickly dragged down the hallway into a storage area that had become a makeshift lab/operating room.

A guard held each of Rudy's arms firmly as Jaime was strapped to the table. "Can't you at least give her something, put her out first?" Rudy pleaded.

"But she'd miss all the fun!" one of the guards said cruelly. They shoved Rudy toward the table and uncovered a tray of somewhat primitive surgical instruments. "Cameras on? Good. Ok, Doc - it's your show."

Rudy's eyes met Jaime's for a split second, and said everything they both needed to say without any words, then Jaime closed her eyes. _Please, Rudy,_ she begged silently._ Better you than them..._

Rudy reluctantly made his first cuts, and Jaime's world went dark.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

For the second time in as many days, Jaime opened her eyes to find she was somewhere she hadn't expected to find herself. This time, she hadn't expected to open them at all, ever again. She was in a hospital bed, with Steve holding her hand and smiling a huge, ear-to-ear smile at her. Rudy stood next to them, in a clean lab coat, looking like a doctor again, instead of a prisoner.

"The GPS worked?" Jaime assumed groggily.

Steve stepped away from the bed so Rudy could take a look at her. Rudy was smiling, too. "Your husband and your friend would've made good surgeons. They didn't finish it, but had the presence of mind to activate it as they put it in, instead of afterward." He shook down a thermometer. "Under your tongue, please." Jaime complied. "When I made those first cuts, I tried to buy us some time; made cuts that wouldn't do much damage first, so I was technically cooperating, but stalling, too. The calvary rode in, just in time." Jaime didn't ask what had happen to their captors; she didn't want to know.

"Are you in pain, Honey?" Rudy asked, removing the thermometer.

"Not really...maybe a little."

"I'll send the nurse in with a shot." Rudy turned to go, then turned back. "Almost forgot - congratulations, you two." There were smiles all around.

Steve kissed his wife and softly caressed her face. "I never wanna come that close to losing you again."

"Is everybody ok?"

"Everyone's fine. Oscar's in perfect shape; he's one tough old bird. Callahan was released from the hospital today, and Linda's going home tomorrow. Oh, and you won't believe where Sam is." Jaime waited quietly for him to spill it. "He's taking Callahan out to dinner. Wine, roses, the works."

"Very cool. Everyone gets a happy ending."

Steve kissed her again. "I think we've had our share of 'worse' for this lifetime. Time to get to work on 'better'."

Jaime nodded. "Better...for all of us."

END


End file.
